Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

I am very pleased that the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill 2017 is being discussed today on Second Stage under Private Members' business. This Bill will greatly enhance consumer protections and rights in the unregulated area of the sale of gift vouchers and their terms and conditions, and enhance transparency in this regard. It is another pro-consumer initiative which my party has been campaigning on. This approach to bringing forward legislative proposals will ensure that Irish consumers can select a gift card or voucher at their own discretion and have full access to the terms and conditions of the product they are buying. They will also have the certainty that the product they are buying will last for a certain period.

Gift cards which are e-money products are subject to regulation and protection under the EU electronic money directive, the EU anti-money laundering laws and the payments services directives. However, other gift vouchers and cards remain unregulated in the main in Ireland with approximately two thirds of the market being completely unregulated. The unregulated sector concerns mainly shopping centre cards and single brand store cards. Furthermore, there is no protection of the funds loaded onto these cards. Retailers use such funds as normal working capital and if a retailer collapses the funds are lost to consumers.

Finally, there is no consumer protection legislation for these unregulated gift vouchers and cards in respect of expiry dates, mandatory requirements on transparency, security of funds or indeed the fees charged. This is a matter of concern during a peak shopping period. Christmas is one of the busiest times of year for the sale of gift vouchers, however, consumers receiving the gift vouchers can often be left unaware of the terms and conditions that apply to them, specifically, the period when vouchers remain valid can vary. As a result consumers are often left shortchanged when they go to redeem them. Some retailers are more flexible than others but they have the right to refuse to honour the voucher outside the defined period.

Over the past seven years successive Fine Gael-led Governments have failed to protect consumers by not acting on consumer protection legislation to regulate gift vouchers. In the heads of a 2015 consumer rights Bill that has remained in limbo this was acknowledged. They stated that the proposals in the chapter were the first legislative provisions to deal specifically with these products, gift vouchers. My Bill makes new provisions in regulating the sale of gift vouchers and the contracts for their supply by amending the Consumer Protection Act 2007. The Bill establishes a definition of gift vouchers which takes in all types of product, be they electronic, card, written, certificate or other. For the first time in Irish consumer law the Bill proposes that there be no expiry date on gift vouchers which is "not less than a period of five years". In other words, all gift vouchers would remain valid for five years and the five-year expiry date has been deployed in other jurisdictions to good effect. Under this Bill an obligation is imposed on a trader to inform the consumer of any fees associated with the sale of the voucher before the consumer is bound by the gift voucher contract. Gift voucher contracts can provide for restrictions in their use.

The Bill will enhance consumer protections by providing that a consumer must be informed of any restriction associated with a gift voucher before being bound by any such contract.

Fianna Fáil is the first political party to move a Bill in this area on Second Stage and we encourage others who have published similar Bills to support the passage of our in order to enable it to proceed to Committee Stage as quickly as possible when further scrutiny can take place. I acknowledge the work of the Social Democrats in this area and hope all parties in the Oireachtas can work together to progress the legislation on Committee Stage.

Successive Fine Gael-led Governments have sat on a 2015 Bill to regulate gift vouchers, citing EU legislation that is coming down the road that will have primacy over domestic legislation as a reason for not prioritising it. Last November when I raised the issue of the lack of movement on that Bill, the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Breen, stated: "I have to consider the advisability of bringing forward a legislative proposal to the Oireachtas when a directly related and fully harmonised legislative proposal may be at an advanced stage of the European Union legislative process." In other words, the Government was not going to progress the Bill in the Dáil for the reasons stated at the time. Clearly, it was another example of old stroke politics, given that Fine Gael, through the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, did a complete U-turn and brought forward its own Bill only a few days after the Fianna Fáil Bill had been selected for discussion on Second Stage in Private Members' time. I note that the Government is now using the line, "given the slower than expected progress of EU proposals". It has been converted overnight to the cause of regulating gift vouchers. It is a cynical, if not gigantic, U-turn which showcases once more the fact that the Government does not care about the delivery of policy but rather prefers to copy the lead Opposition party in bringing forward progressive consumer protection measures after being asleep at the wheel on the issue for the past few years. Since the Government has been converted on the issue, I take it that it will now support the passage of our Bill and allow it to proceed to the next Stage. I urge it not to drag its heels in dealing with this progressive consumer protection legislation and to do the honourable thing. I look forward to bringing the legislation through the Oireachtas as quickly as possible to ensure consumer rights will be protected and that there will be no nasty shocks or surprises for consumers or members of the public.

I refer to a statement issued by an organisation known as the Prepaid International Association. For the benefit of the House and those interested in the passage of this legislation, the Prepaid International Association is a global not-for-profit trade organisation that was established in 2007 to represent organisations involved in the supply of prepaid financial services and products. It acts as the principal point of liaison between the industry and Government agencies, regulators and consumer bodies. With respect to this Bill, its chairperson, Mr. Craig James, stated:

We welcome any moves by legislators that strengthen consumer confidence in prepaid products, including gift cards. The measures proposed address some of the key consumer concerns in this area and bring regulation to bear on the currently unregulated sector of the market such as store branded gift cards.

He went on to say the organisations the Prepaid International Association represented issued their products under the European Union e-money directive, which I referenced. I acknowledge that the regulated sector conducts its business in a highly regulated environment under the European Union e-money directive. Mr. James went on to say the directive went further than the proposed legislation - which is true - in that it offered security for consumer funds for products to operate in a fair and open manner through adherence to the treating customers fairly guidelines. As the sponsor of the Bill, I indicate that there is European Union legislation under which e-money product services operate in a highly regulated environment. The legislation I have outlined seeks to provide consumer protection in the two thirds of the market in this country which is highly unregulated.

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